The 67th National Cherry Festival parade float awards were announced this week and trophies presented to the winners.
Jemma Long, the 2016 Cherry Queen made the presentation at the Visitor Information Centre on Thursday afternoon.
She congratulated them for their contribution to the festivals parade, and thanked them for their participation.
The parade is a popular attraction and organisers are keen to ensure it continues to provide a carnival atmosphere and a colourful display.
This year a panel of four judges were positioned in an elevated vantage point to view the parade and they selected the best floats and entries in six categories.
Young Girl Guides were judged to have the best overall themed entry and were presented with a large gold Cup for their cherry themed display.
Girl Guides members – Angel Parsons and Mahala Jones – said they were really excited to take out the top honors.
“We represented the Girl Guides because we had a giant Girl Guides hat at the top of the cherry tree on our float,” they said.
The group of Guides said the master creation came after months of planning and inspiration from member Olivia Ciccarelli’s mother.
Guide leader, Tara O’Brien, said the members had a fantastic time creating and decorating the float for the parade, requiring painting and plenty of TLC.
The float made its way down Boorowa Street on December 3 with the guidance of 15 members and leaders who proudly showed-off the award-winning creation.
St Mary’s Primary School were also recognised for their creative streak in being awarded the trophy for the best school entry.
St Mary’s presence in the parade was hard to miss as a huge number of students got into the cherry spirit and rolled down Boorowa Street on their scooters, skate boards and pushbikes.
The Rural Fire Service took out the community category and Hilltops Equine Centre won a trophy for the funniest float with the incredibly cute miniature pony cart.
Best business entry went to Tegra and Canberra Celtic Pipes Band won the award for Best Band.
Next year the National Cherry Festival will be held on December 1, 2 and 3, with the parade featuring on Saturday, December 2. Organisers look forward to more creative floats in 2017.
